Train Like Louis Smith: An Olympian Body Without Lifting Weights
The 2012 gymnastics medal hope on how to get ripped using only your own body weight: his core workout, plyometrics, shoulder squats and how to walk on your hands.
Quick tip: never mess around on a pommel horse. The pressure on your arms is excruciating and, oh Jesus, when you try to split your legs onto either side it feels like your groin is being ripped out by the teeth of a rabies-infected goat. FHM can manage about ten seconds before collapsing in a heap. Louis Smith, however, is different.
The 21-year-old London 2012 hope bounces in, ascends the pommel, throws all manner of shapes on it and then moves on to “his actual session”. It’s incredible, a demonstration of all-round muscular strength that begs one question. How many kilograms do you press? The answer is zero.
“Muscle building makes you bulky and that’s not good for gymnastics,” reveals the World Championship silver medallist. “So I never venture inside the gym. Instead I try to maximise my strength-to-body weight ratio and the best way of doing that isn’t by knocking out sets of bicep curls or clean and jerks, it’s by doing exercises that use your own body weight.” That’s right, folks.
Louis Smith looks like he’s been chiselled from granite and yet he doesn’t lift a single weight.
Incredible, eh? It is, and here’s how he does it…
Louis’ core workout: five times a week
Alternating Leg And Arm Extensions
Reps: 10-12 each side
“I begin with three exercises aimed at activating the core. The first sees you lie on your back with your knees up towards your chest until your calves are parallel to the floor. From this position, keep your core stationary and extend your right arm and left leg, then return to the start and repeat the move, this time using the opposite arm and leg.”
Stool Leapfrog
Reps: 6
“Because a lot of gymnastics is about rebound tumbling, we need to create fast, explosive muscle and we do this by doing a set of plyometric exercises that we’ll aim to do as fast as possible. The first sees us set four stools out and leapfrog over them, before finishing with a forward roll.”
Hanging Leg Raise A
Reps: 8-10
Want abs of steel? “Hang from a bar with your legs at 90° from your body,” demands the former Commonwealth Champ. “Now, keeping your body and legs straight, lift your feet as high as you can go. Do 8-10 reps and when that gets easy increase this number.”
Single Leg Side Lowering
Reps: 10-12 each side
“This exercise, which really works the lower back, abs and groin, begins with you lying on your back with your legs fully extended and raised 90° in the air. Now, keeping your torso as flat as possible and your leg as straight as possible, lower one leg as far as you can, before bringing it back up to the start position.”
Shoulder Squats
Reps: 10-12
“Make sure you do this one on a mat, as it involves a friend standing on your shoulders. Select a pal, get him to climb on, and then do 10-12 squats as quickly as possible. Why squat a human rather than a bar? Because it’s more comfortable and this isn’t about doing 120kg, it’s about doing 60kg quickly.”
Hanging Leg Raise B
Reps: 6-8
Thought that was tough? Well… “This is pretty much the same, except you start with your body completely straight,” says the Lucozade ambassador. “Hang with your feet pointing to the floor, then, keeping your legs and back straight, raise them up to 90°.”
Bridge Leg Extension 2.0
Reps: 10-12 each side
“Lie on your back, with your knees in the air and your feet on the ground and lift your hips into a bridge. Next, keeping your leg bent, lift one foot off the floor and lower it to the side, extend the leg until it’s straight and then repeat the move in the opposite direction to return to the start position. Do three sets of 10-12 reps for each side.”
Ankle Raises
Reps: As many as you can
“Also known as calf raises, these see you stand with your heel hanging over the end of a bench platform. Now lift your heel as high as possible, then drop them down as low as possible. Again, do these quickly as you are trying to build explosive calf strength. We tend to do as many as we can.”
Louis’ Training Programme
“I train 32 hours a week. On a normal day I’ll stretch for 20 minutes and then begin this core conditioning work. Then I crack on with skills and routine-based training. I do three apparatus in the first session and then have a 90-minute break, before doing the same again, only this time switching to the other three.”
Louis explains how to walk on your hands
Step one: “Good core strength is fundamental to a good handstand, as if you get up and your back is bending, you are not going to stay up long. Work on this with exercises such as sit-ups.”
Step two: “Core sorted, you can’t run before you walk, so go to handstand against a wall for as long as possible. We call this ‘practising being tight’ and it’s important, because if you aren’t tight, you will crumble.
Step three: “Mimic the walking movement by kicking yourself away from the wall slightly, then trying to hold this position for as long as possible. Now rest against the wall and kick again, as this will build up your balance. Nailed that? Now you’re ready to go.”
From the May 2011 issue of FHM India.
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